Stillages are generally used for transportation and storage of items that are not capable of being stacked for transportation upon a pallet. Such items include but are not limited to plants in pots. It is primarily for use in transporting awkward and movable items and therefore a stillage for practical purposes includes side panels for enclosing items to be stored on a base section.
Stillages generally comprise a framework having a base with upwardly extending support legs fixably located at corner regions of the base and interconnected by non-displaceable cross-members. Articles to be stored or transported by the stillage, rest on the base and are located between and retained by the upwardly extending support legs and cross-members. One disadvantage of such stillages is that when the transported articles are removed, an empty stillage occupies considerable space, which is not only wasteful but proves costly when the stillages are being returned for reuse.
A further drawback of known stillages is that there is generally a practical limitation on the number of stillages that can be transported. Also different sized articles are not easily accommodated by known stillages without adversely decreasing the effective use of transport space.
It is an object of the present invention to address and ameliorate at least one of the above mentioned disadvantages or at least provide a useful alternative.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a stillage which more efficiently utilizes transport space and which can accommodate a range of different sized articles.
It is an even further object of the invention to provide a transport means which can also be used to display articles post-transport.